Stay with me
by KatieRenee33
Summary: Caroline realizes she has feelings for Stefan, but when he dumps new vampire Ivy on her and she's left to rescue Enzo and Ivy alone, will she forgive him? Or will she be forced to move on? *summary sucks but story is better, I promise! :) * STEROLINE/DELENA
1. Chapter 1

Caroline gasped as she sat in her car and watched the man drag Ivy's lifeless body to the back of his van.

"Oh my god" she grabbed her phone and dialed his number. "Pick up….pick up… PICK UP!"

_Ring….ring….ring…. "Hey it's Stefan, leave a message."_

"Damn it!" She yelled throwing the phone in the passenger seat. She sighed and ran a hand threw her hair. "Think Caroline…" she watched as the man came back around to the front of the van, looking around before getting in. She reached for her phone and dialed another number.

"Caroline, hey." Matt answered.

"Matt, Thank god! I need your help." She said, watching the van drive off and quickly trying to fallow behind.

"Caroline what's going on?" he could hear the panic in her voice.

"I just watched this guy drug and throw a vampire in the back of a black van. Do you know who it could be?!"

Matt sighed. "Yeah I got a pretty good idea." He quickly got up from the couch and grabbed his keys. "Care, were are you?"

"I'm tailing him right now." She said, trying to keep enough space between her and him so not to be made.

"No, Caroline – don't go after him alone. Where are you? I'm coming to you." He said.

"Matt there is no time, do you know where he is taking her?" she asked, making another turn.

"Yeah I do. Car, please don't do anything stupid. Wait for me to get there, he's dangerous." Matt pleaded.

"I can handle this is. I'll see you there." She said before hanging up.

She fallowed the van for 10 minutes before it made a right turn onto a long driveway. She parked her car at the edge of the woods and watched the taillights go down the driveway until they disappeared. She closed her eyes and concentrated to hear any movement deep in the woods. After a few minutes she heard the van come to a stop and the engine shut off. She pulled her phone out and dialed his number again, this time it didn't ring just went straight to voicemail.

"Damn it Stefan!" She said threw a clenched jaw, crushing her phone in her hand before tossing the pieces in the floorboard.

She listened threw the woods again and heard a car door slam shut and someone fumbling with a chain. She quietly got out of the car and slowly made her way through the woods making sure to stay in the shadows. She stopped behind a tree when she saw the van parked in front of an abandoned farm house and waited a few seconds to make sure the man wasn't around before speeding over to the back.

_Empty._

"What did you do to me?" She heard Ivy's muffled voice come from inside the house. Caroline quietly walked around the building until she came to a window that was only slightly boarded up but had enough of a crack to see the man kick Ivy in the stomach to keep her down as he chained her to the floor.

"I see you've brought a second victim." Caroline heard a familiar British accent.

"Enzo?" She whispered confused.

"Shut up vamp." The man hissed, shooting a revain dart at him. Enzo scowled as the revain burned his skin.

"I thought I told you, that doesn't work on me." He said smug.

"Maybe not, but this might." He said, picking up his shotgun and shot a wooden stake into his chest.

Caroline jumped and covered her mouth to try to muffle the gasp that escaped her lips. She saw the man turn around and look out the window at her and she knew her cover was blown. She quickly speed off threw the woods far enough to safely but close enough to still see the farmhouse.

The man came out of the house holding the shotgun and looked around. He stood for a minute and heard a twig snap behind him and twisted around ready to pull the trigger.

"Hey Tripp, whoa!" Matt said, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Matt, what are you doing here?" Tripp said lowering the shotgun.

"Uh, I have a bit of a problem…." Matt said, trying to think of something fast.

"What kind of problem?"

"I…uh… ran apron a new vampire attacking a girl at a party. I was able to get some revain in him but I'm not sure how long he will stay down.." Matt said, trying to make the story believable. "I got him in the back of my truck now. I didn't know there else to go."

"Okay, you did the right thing. Let's get him down to the house." Tripp said, waiting for Matt to lead the way.

Matt cleared his throat and whispered under this breath to Caroline. "You have 2 minutes."

Caroline waited until they were out of eye sight before speeding into the abandoned house.

"Enzo." She said, shocked at the sight. Enzo was chained to the floor, with a stake in his chest. He also had an IV attached to his arm in attempt to drain his blood to keep him weak since revain doesn't work with him.

"Well, well, well…. Hello gorgeous." He said weakly, but still flashed a flirty smile.

"Shhh." She said, grabbing a hold of the stake and pulling it out. Next she removed the IV from his arm and broke the chains from his wrist. "Here" She said biting her wrist and holding it out for him.

"Caroline-" he started but she cut him off.

"We don't have time to argue. Now drink and get out of here , I will get Ivy." She said sternly.

Enzo grabbed her wrist and fed just enough that he could feel his wounds begin healing a little faster and enough strength to get up.

"Now go. I'll be right behind you." She said, going over to Ivy and breaking her chains.

Enzo hesitated for a minute, he didn't want to leave her alone, but knew he would never hear the end of it if he didn't listen to her right now. Caroline turned toward him and in a flash he was gone.

"Okay, come on Ivy get up!" She said shaking the girl. Ivy's eyes flew open and she quickly sat up. "Get out of here now." Caroline said sternly. Ivy nodded and sped out of the house.

"Going somewhere?" she heard a voice behind her.

She paused for a moment, feeling dark veins pulsate under her eyes and her fangs appear. She spun around and was instantly shot with a stake.


	2. Chapter 2

Enzo stopped at the edge of the wood line when he heard Caroline scream in pain. He leaned against a tree to catch his breath. He still wasn't healing fast enough and there was no way he had enough strength to fight Tripp alone. He smelled the air for a moment and found a familiar sent.

_Blood._

He followed the scent when he came to a truck parked on the edge of the road and a body lying on the ground. He came around to the other driver side and recognized the blonde guy coming around and holding the back of his head.

"Well if it isn't the errand boy." Enzo hissed, he's eyes turning red in thirst.

"I came with Caroline to rescue you. I tried to distract Tripp but he must have figured out it was a distraction." He moaned pulling his hand from his head and noticed the blood.

Enzo moaned knowing Caroline would kill him if she found out he fed on her friend even to rescue her. "Well thanks to your incapability to pull off the simple task of distraction, the hunter has Caroline and I don't have the strength to fight him alone."

"Okay, get in we will get help." Matt said, pulling himself off the ground and climbed into his truck.

"You go, I'm going to stay here and keep an eye on things and make sure he doesn't move her." Enzo said. Matt nodded before driving off.

Stefan set on the bench in his family crypt, downing the last of the bottle of bourbon.

"Yup. This is happening. I am talking out loud in the crypt filled with my dead family." He said looking around. "Everyone but you Damon. You're not here. I gotta say…I'm not doing so great without you. I keep trying to start over but I can't get anywhere. Because I'm lost, brother. I'm lost without you." He said. He sat in silence for a moment before anger took over his body and he stood up and threw the bottle across the crypt.

He watched in shock as Damon caught it in mid air. "What, I'm going a couple of months and you think it's okay to waste a perfectly good bottle of bourbon?" He asked before taking a sip.

Stefan's body froze in shock. "Damon?"

Damon smirked. "In the flesh."

"How am I seeing you right now?" Wondering if he was imagining things.

"Because I'm not dead Stefan." He paused for a moment waiting for some kind of reaction but, Stefan only had a look of disbelief. He looked at the bottle in his hand. "This stuff is good but it's not 'I see dead people' kind of good." He smirked. "It's a hell of a long story, brother but I'm back."

Stefan reached out and placed a hand on Damon's should.

_He was real. _

Stefan gasped and pulled him into an hug.

"I'm back Stefan." Damon said, relieved.

"How? How did you come back?" Stefan asked after a few minutes and released his hold on Damon.

"It's a long story, and I will fill you in on everything. But right now there is someone I need to see." He said making is way to the entrance.

"Uh, Damon. There is something you need to know about Elena." Stefan said. Damon turned and looked confused. "She was a mess without you. It was hard on everyone without you and Bonnie here. We all had our own ways of coping, some more drastic then others…."

"Stefan, what is it?" Damon said, impatiently.

"Elena couldn't stand the pain. So she had Alaric compel her to forget her feelings for you." He said with a sigh.

"She did…_what?"_ Damon asked.

"She didn't know how to move past it. She was spiraling out of control."

"So Ric just agrees to erase me from her life?!" He said, anger building.

"Damon, it was the only way she felt she could be normal again." Stefan sighed. "She lost hope…we both did."

"Well _you _didn't erase me!" Damon said, throwing the bottle against the wall.

Before Stefan could say anything they turned towards the entrance when they heard Matt stumble in.

"Stefan I need your help-" Matt stopped in his tracks when he saw Damon standing next to Stefan.

"Yeah, surprise I'm back." Damon smirked.

"Matt, what is it? What's wrong?" Stefan asked.

"It's…. Caroline. Tripp has her." Matt said, still confused.

"What?! How did that happen?" Stefan asked concerned.

"I… I don't know she was following Ivy when Tripp snatched her in town and Caroline followed him to where he was holding Enzo. She was able to free them but Tripp got her before she was able to get out." Matt said, still trying to catch his breath.

"I'm not even back 10 minutes and I already have to save Blondie." Damon sighed. "Some welcome home party."

"C'mon, we got to get there before he kills her. Can you lead us back there?" Stefan asked Matt, who nodded.

"AHHHHHHH!" Caroline screamed in pain as Tripp shot a dart of revain in her neck before chaining her to the spot he had Enzo.

"Stupid move trying to come and save your friends." Tripp said tightening the chains.

"Well you see I was able to get them out. Its only matter of time before they comes back for me." She said breathing threw the pain.

"You know, I held onto Enzo with the sole purpose of torturing him until he gave up the names of other vampires in town. But it turns out it wasn't easy to crack as others have been. Something tells me you will be easier." He said with a grin.

"If you think you're going to get me to talk with revain and a few wooden bullets, you are mistaken. This isn't my first rodeo." Caroline hissed.

"Maybe not." Tripp said, standing up and walking over to the corner of the room to a table of tools. "But you see I've done a little research. And while there is a lot that a vampire can withstand…. There is one thing proven to be very effective." He said sticking a syringe into a medical vile and then placing it into the same gun he had shot revain darks from. "Now I'm only going to give you one chance; what are the names of the others?"

Caroline fought against her restraints. "Go to hell."

"See, I don't have to get you to talk at all. If what you say is true, then your little friend is going to get reinforcement to come rescue you and I'll be here waiting. So really, I don't have a need for you." He said, pointing the gun at her.

Caroline's eyes widened as she watched him pull the trigger. She let out a cry as she felt dart strike her shoulder and her skin began instantly burn. She recognized the excruciating pain right away.

"Werewolf venom." She cried out.


	3. Chapter 3

Stefan and Damon fallowed Matt back to the abandoned house just on the outskirts of the Mystic Falls boarder where Tripp was holding Caroline. When they saw Enzo standing at the edge of the wood line, Stefan got a unsettling feeling in his stomach.

"Welcome back Mate." Enzo said, nodding towards Damon. "Sorry that your home coming is ruined by the mess your little brother has made." He said, glaring over at Stefan.

"Stefan?" Damon asked.

"Oh he's just mad that I staked him and turned him into the vampire hunter." He said, slightly amused.

"Well I'm sure you had a good reason for that." Damon said.

"I think he is jealous of my accent." Enzo smirked. "And I might have killed and turned his girlfriend into a vampire."

"That will do it." Damon nodded. "So how did Blondie get herself into the mix?"

"Again, that one's on Stefan." Enzo stated.

"Guys can you fight about whose fault this mess is later? Caroline still needs help before that psycho does something to her." Matt insisted.

They all nodded in agreement. "How many are we up against?" Damon asked.

"One that I know of, but he has had two other come in since he had me." Enzo stated.

"Well then I guess easiest thing is bust down the door and break her out." Damon said.

The two of them made their way through the woods towards the house, Matt stayed back. Stefan stopped at a window and peaked threw the crack in the boards to see Caroline chained to the floor. He noticed Tripp across the room across from the door and signaled to Damon. Damon nodded in return.

Caroline laid on the floor trying to keep calm. She could feel the venom spread through here body, her skin burning more intense by the second. Her vision was becoming burly and tunnel vision like. She heard the front door be kicked in. Her head rolled to the side as she watched Tripp aim his gun and pull the trigger. What happen next she was sure she hallucinating.

Damon?

Damon caught the wooden stake in mid air and glared across the room at Tripp. "I didn't just come back from the dead to go back so soon." He hissed before throwing the stake at vamp speed back at him, hitting him in the leg.

Tripp screamed as he grabbed his leg, stumbling back against the wall. In a last ditch effort Tripp aimed the gun and shot multiple stakes in the air before making a break for the back door. Both Stefan and Damon were hit in stomach with a stake and instantly pulled it out of themselves.

"Damon help here, I'm going to take care of him." Stefan hissed before following after Tripp out the back door.

"Caroline?" Damon said softly, kneeling down on the ground next to her.

She stared blankly at him. She winced at the pain on her shoulder. "I'm hallucinating, you're not here." She said weakly.

"On different circumstances I might take offense to that." Damon said, giving a small smile. He brushed her hair off her shoulder pushed her jacket back to reveal the wound.

"How-how are you here?" She asked. Before he could answer she let out a scream as the werewolf venom and wound spread farther over her should and up her neck.

"Shhhh." Damon whispered, breaking the chains on her wrists and scooped her up in his arms. "Let's get you out of here." He whispered in her ear before walking out of the house. They made their way back up to where Matt was waiting by his truck. Stefan ran out of the woods.

"Did you get him?" Damon asked.

"He crossed the border before I could catch him. Matt can you find him?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah I can try. Is Care going to be okay?" He asked concerned.

"We are going to do everything we can." Damon said before speeding off into the night.

Elena yawned as she sat up in her bed at the sound of her phone ringing on the night stand next to her. She looked at the clock. 3 am. She sighed and answered the phone.

"Hello?" She said threw another yawn.

"Elena…" she heard Stefan on the other end, his voice sounded desperate. "I'm sorry if I woke you…"

"No Stefan it's okay. What's wrong?" She asked.

"Its-its Caroline. The vampire hunter had her…" He paused.

"Is she okay?" She asked, throwing the covers off her as she leapt from her bed. There was a moment of silence on the other end. "STEFAN? Is she okay?" She said more panicked.

He sighed. "It's not good." His voice cracked. "We are headed over to her house right now. I figured you would want to here there."

"Yes of course I'll be right there." Elena said heading for her door.

"Elena there is something else you should know." He paused again. "Damon's back."

Elena stopped in her tracks. "Wha—What?"

"It's a long story, I'll let him explain later, but I thought you would want some warning. He knows about your compulsion and everything, but right now we need to be here for Caroline." He said.

"Um..yeah. I'm on my way." She said before hanging up.

Damon was back? What about Bonnie?

She shook her head and took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. The last thing she wanted to do was see Damon. She only remembers the all the bad things he's done. Even though she read the letter she rode to herself before Alaric erased her memories, she still couldn't imagine that she loved him once. But Stefan was right, right now Caroline was the priority and everything else can be sorted out at another time.

Stefan watched from the doorway of Caroline's bedroom as Damon laid her down on the bed. Damon placed a hand on her face, she was burning up. He removed her jacket and shirt leaving her in a tank top. He examined the wound. Dark veins made their way down her arm and back of her shoulder and the wound was the size of a baseball.

"Caroline, can you hear me?" He said softly, gently moving the hair out of her face.

Caroline moaned in pain as tears fell from her eyes.

"Here." Enzo said, pushing past Stefan in the doorway bringing a blood bag over to her. Damon took the blood bag and tore the top off before bringing it to her lips.

"Here honey, you need to try to drink some of this." He said. She opened her eyes and instantly they turned red and the veins under them began to show. "That's it, drink up. We need to keep your strength up."

"How long can we keep her alive?" Enzo whispered to Stefan in the doorway.

Stefan's gaze fell to the floor. "Not long."

Enzo felt a rush of anger take over his body and he reached out and grabbed Stefan by the throat and pushed him against the wall. "If she dies, I will personally make sure you're the next one going to the other side if it's the last thing I do." He said threw a clenched jaw. Stefan didn't even bother to fight back. Enzo squeezed his hand before pushing Stefan harder against the wall then let go and left the room.

Once Caroline was calmed enough Damon left the bedside and walked over to Stefan. "She doesn't have much time. We need to find Klaus; do you know where he is?"

"Last I heard he was still in New Orleans." Stefan said.

"I'm going to make a few phone calls. Keep an eye on her." He said before leaving. Stefan continued to watch her from a distance. How could he have ignored her calls? Her plea for help? Enzo was right it was his fault Caroline ended up at the hands of the vampire hunter. If he hadn't had turned Enzo in to him in the first place or just dropped Ivy off at Caroline's doorstep, none of this would have happened. If she dies, it will kill him. He will never be able to live with himself….it would push him to turn off his humanity again…. or worse.

He slowly made his way over the bed and gently sat down next to her. He gently took her hand in his as the tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Caroline..." His voice broke. "I'm so sorry. I should have been here for you." He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

Caroline stirred and opened her eyes. Suddenly she got a sharp pain pierce threw her body, causing her to shot right up in the bed. "AHHHHHHH!" She screamed clenching her shoulder.

"Caroline, calm down!" Stefan said, placing both arms around here.

"GET OFF ME!" she hissed, pushing him away.

He grabbed the blood bag off the night stand and held it in front of her. "Here, drink this; it will help take the edge off." He said.

Caroline grabbed the blood bag and threw it again the room.

"Care, let me help you." Stefan pleaded, trying to get her to calm down.

"It's too late for that Stefan! I needed you, and for the last 4 months you ignored me and left town! I fell apart without you and you didn't care. So don't sit here and pretend to give a damn about me now!" She yelled, pushing him away from her.

Elena and Enzo came running into the room when they heard her screaming.

"Caroline, its okay!" Elena said, pushing past Stefan and grabbed both sides of Caroline.

"No it's not Elena!" She yelled, getting up from the bed. "While you have been busy having Alaric compel away your memories and Stefan off pretending a new life is going to make everything go away, I've been here trying to clean up everyone's mess and trying to find away to get our home back! I've been trying to keep it together while everyone else fell apart and I can only take so much! I was hurting too!" Tears fell from her eyes and the shooting pains from the venom started to take over her body.

"But we are here for you now Caroline." Elena said, on the verge of crying herself.

"It's a little too late. In case you didn't notice…" She said pointing to the wound that continued to spread by the minute. "I'm dying! There is nothing anyone can do!"

Stefan picked up the blood bag from the floor and slowly walked towards her. "Caroline…please just drink it will ease some of the pain until we can get the antidote. Let me help you." He said.

"You don't get it! I don't want to ease the pain! I don't want your help! I rather die right now… from werewolf venom, they spend another day with a broken heart because of you!" She hissed.

He could see the anger and hurt in her eyes.

"Caroline! You don't mean that!" Elena said shocked.

Caroline stumbled backwards against the wall and sled down it. She was pouring sweat and her vision was becoming blurry. "God it's so damn hot in here!"

Enzo walked over and helped her stand up. Caroline's continued to fight against him. "Caroline, Stop!" He said, grabbing both sides of her face making her look at him. "It's me."

After a moment her vision cleared enough for her to make out his face before going blurry again. Enzo wrapped his arms around her and began leading her out of the room.

"Where are you taking her?!" Elena demanded.

"She's burning up. I, unlike some people, will not sit by and watch her in pain." He said, pushing past both Elena and Stefan and made his way down the hall to the bathroom, both of them hot on his heels.

He opened the shower door and turned the water on cool and climbed in with Caroline still in his arms, not bothering to remove any clothing. He stood under the water letting it run over both of them, pulling Caroline's hair out of her face and out of the wound.

"Does that feel better, love?" He whispered in her ear. He felt her breathing and heart beat begin to slow and she nodded her head. "Good. It's all going to be alright, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He promised, looking through the glass shower door at Stefan.

Stefan clenched his fist and made his way downstairs to find Damon just hanging up the phone. "Please tell me you were able to get a hold of Klaus." He said.

"Well he was reluctant to help, until he heard it was Caroline. Good news is that he is in North Carolina." Damon said. "How is she?"

"Not good. She wants nothing to do with me or Elena, Enzo seems to be the only one who can calm her down." He said, sounding slightly defeated.

"Look Stefan, I understand you did what you had to move on after everything, but take a second and stand in her shoes. It's not easy to come to terms that the person you care about, just tries to erase you from their life." He said and Stefan could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"Damon, I'm sor-"

"Don't Stefan. You don't have to apologize to me. Like I said, I understand being on both sides of that line." He said, giving a supportive smile. "Caroline will come around."

"I don't know about that." He sighed. "Besides, I don't think she has much time, it seems to be spreading faster than the last time." He could feel the tears forming.

"Klaus said he will be here within the hour. We won't let anything happen to her Brother." He said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

Stefan nodded. He was so consumed with Caroline he forgot to ask if Damon had seen or talked to Elena.

"Have you talked to Elena?" He asked.

Damon shook his head. "That's not important right now. She made her choice." He said before disappearing into the other room.

Stefan sat in the living room for a few minutes before Elena came down the stairs. "Well she's finally calmed down and resting. Enzo is still with her." She said sitting down across from him.

Stefan simply nodded, pouring two glasses of bourbon and handed her one and went back to watching the fire he had started in the fire place.

"Stefan, Caroline didn't mean any of that, you know that. It's just the venom talking." Elena said, trying to be reassuring.

Stefan shook his head. "she will never forgive me for leaving. I never knew how bad I hurt her until the night of the party, and I continue to hurt her. She called me, I can't tell you how many times tonight before following the hunter. If I had only answered maybe she wouldn't be the one dying right now." He hung his head in shame.

"Stefan you can't do this to yourself right now. You and I know better than anyone that Caroline would have still gone to that place to save Ivy and Enzo." Elena said reaching out and touched his arm.

Stefan stood up so fast from the chair he was sitting in that he sent it flying across the room. Elena jumped.

"Yeah, well maybe if I answered my damn phone she wouldn't have had to go alone and maybe she wouldn't have been injected with werewolf venom." He said, anger building up inside him as he threw his glass of bourbon into the fire place causing the fire to roar.

"If she dies…. It's my fault. I will never be able to live with myself!" He said.

"She's not going to die Stefan! Klaus is on his way, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, but can we ever completely trust him?" He scuffed, beginning to pace the room.

Elena was about to speak when they hear the front door blow open.

"Well, I take offense to that." They heard a voice from behind them.

Stefan turned to see Klaus standing there.

*** leave a review and tell me what ya think so far ;) ***


	4. Chapter 4

Stefan and Damon fallowed Matt back to the abandoned house just on the outskirts of the Mystic Falls boarder where Tripp was holding Caroline. When they saw Enzo standing at the edge of the wood line, Stefan got a unsettling feeling in his stomach.

"Welcome back Mate." Enzo said, nodding towards Damon. "Sorry that your home coming is ruined by the mess your little brother has made." He said, glaring over at Stefan.

"Stefan?" Damon asked.

"Oh he's just mad that I staked him and turned him into the vampire hunter." He said, slightly amused.

"Well I'm sure you had a good reason for that." Damon said.

"I think he is jealous of my accent." Enzo smirked. "And I might have killed and turned his girlfriend into a vampire."

"That will do it." Damon nodded. "So how did Blondie get herself into the mix?"

"Again, that one's on Stefan." Enzo stated.

"Guys can you fight about whose fault this mess is later? Caroline still needs help before that psycho does something to her." Matt insisted.

They all nodded in agreement. "How many are we up against?" Damon asked.

"One that I know of, but he has had two other come in since he had me." Enzo stated.

"Well then I guess easiest thing is bust down the door and break her out." Damon said.

The two of them made their way through the woods towards the house, Matt stayed back. Stefan stopped at a window and peaked threw the crack in the boards to see Caroline chained to the floor. He noticed Tripp across the room across from the door and signaled to Damon. Damon nodded in return.

Caroline laid on the floor trying to keep calm. She could feel the venom spread through here body, her skin burning more intense by the second. Her vision was becoming burly and tunnel vision like. She heard the front door be kicked in. Her head rolled to the side as she watched Tripp aim his gun and pull the trigger. What happen next she was sure she hallucinating.

Damon?

Damon caught the wooden stake in mid air and glared across the room at Tripp. "I didn't just come back from the dead to go back so soon." He hissed before throwing the stake at vamp speed back at him, hitting him in the leg.

Tripp screamed as he grabbed his leg, stumbling back against the wall. In a last ditch effort Tripp aimed the gun and shot multiple stakes in the air before making a break for the back door. Both Stefan and Damon were hit in stomach with a stake and instantly pulled it out of themselves.

"Damon help here, I'm going to take care of him." Stefan hissed before following after Tripp out the back door.

"Caroline?" Damon said softly, kneeling down on the ground next to her.

She stared blankly at him. She winced at the pain on her shoulder. "I'm hallucinating, you're not here." She said weakly.

"On different circumstances I might take offense to that." Damon said, giving a small smile. He brushed her hair off her shoulder pushed her jacket back to reveal the wound.

"How-how are you here?" She asked. Before he could answer she let out a scream as the werewolf venom and wound spread farther over her should and up her neck.

"Shhhh." Damon whispered, breaking the chains on her wrists and scooped her up in his arms. "Let's get you out of here." He whispered in her ear before walking out of the house. They made their way back up to where Matt was waiting by his truck. Stefan ran out of the woods.

"Did you get him?" Damon asked.

"He crossed the border before I could catch him. Matt can you find him?" Stefan asked.

"Yeah I can try. Is Care going to be okay?" He asked concerned.

"We are going to do everything we can." Damon said before speeding off into the night.

Elena yawned as she sat up in her bed at the sound of her phone ringing on the night stand next to her. She looked at the clock. 3 am. She sighed and answered the phone.

"Hello?" She said threw another yawn.

"Elena…" she heard Stefan on the other end, his voice sounded desperate. "I'm sorry if I woke you…"

"No Stefan it's okay. What's wrong?" She asked.

"Its-its Caroline. The vampire hunter had her…" He paused.

"Is she okay?" She asked, throwing the covers off her as she leapt from her bed. There was a moment of silence on the other end. "STEFAN? Is she okay?" She said more panicked.

He sighed. "It's not good." His voice cracked. "We are headed over to her house right now. I figured you would want to here there."

"Yes of course I'll be right there." Elena said heading for her door.

"Elena there is something else you should know." He paused again. "Damon's back."

Elena stopped in her tracks. "Wha—What?"

"It's a long story, I'll let him explain later, but I thought you would want some warning. He knows about your compulsion and everything, but right now we need to be here for Caroline." He said.

"Um..yeah. I'm on my way." She said before hanging up.

Damon was back? What about Bonnie?

She shook her head and took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves. The last thing she wanted to do was see Damon. She only remembers the all the bad things he's done. Even though she read the letter she rode to herself before Alaric erased her memories, she still couldn't imagine that she loved him once. But Stefan was right, right now Caroline was the priority and everything else can be sorted out at another time.

Stefan watched from the doorway of Caroline's bedroom as Damon laid her down on the bed. Damon placed a hand on her face, she was burning up. He removed her jacket and shirt leaving her in a tank top. He examined the wound. Dark veins made their way down her arm and back of her shoulder and the wound was the size of a baseball.

"Caroline, can you hear me?" He said softly, gently moving the hair out of her face.

Caroline moaned in pain as tears fell from her eyes.

"Here." Enzo said, pushing past Stefan in the doorway bringing a blood bag over to her. Damon took the blood bag and tore the top off before bringing it to her lips.

"Here honey, you need to try to drink some of this." He said. She opened her eyes and instantly they turned red and the veins under them began to show. "That's it, drink up. We need to keep your strength up."

"How long can we keep her alive?" Enzo whispered to Stefan in the doorway.

Stefan's gaze fell to the floor. "Not long."

Enzo felt a rush of anger take over his body and he reached out and grabbed Stefan by the throat and pushed him against the wall. "If she dies, I will personally make sure you're the next one going to the other side if it's the last thing I do." He said threw a clenched jaw. Stefan didn't even bother to fight back. Enzo squeezed his hand before pushing Stefan harder against the wall then let go and left the room.

Once Caroline was calmed enough Damon left the bedside and walked over to Stefan. "She doesn't have much time. We need to find Klaus; do you know where he is?"

"Last I heard he was still in New Orleans." Stefan said.

"I'm going to make a few phone calls. Keep an eye on her." He said before leaving. Stefan continued to watch her from a distance. How could he have ignored her calls? Her plea for help? Enzo was right it was his fault Caroline ended up at the hands of the vampire hunter. If he hadn't had turned Enzo in to him in the first place or just dropped Ivy off at Caroline's doorstep, none of this would have happened. If she dies, it will kill him. He will never be able to live with himself….it would push him to turn off his humanity again…. or worse.

He slowly made his way over the bed and gently sat down next to her. He gently took her hand in his as the tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Caroline..." His voice broke. "I'm so sorry. I should have been here for you." He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.

Caroline stirred and opened her eyes. Suddenly she got a sharp pain pierce threw her body, causing her to shot right up in the bed. "AHHHHHHH!" She screamed clenching her shoulder.

"Caroline, calm down!" Stefan said, placing both arms around here.

"GET OFF ME!" she hissed, pushing him away.

He grabbed the blood bag off the night stand and held it in front of her. "Here, drink this; it will help take the edge off." He said.

Caroline grabbed the blood bag and threw it again the room.

"Care, let me help you." Stefan pleaded, trying to get her to calm down.

"It's too late for that Stefan! I needed you, and for the last 4 months you ignored me and left town! I fell apart without you and you didn't care. So don't sit here and pretend to give a damn about me now!" She yelled, pushing him away from her.

Elena and Enzo came running into the room when they heard her screaming.

"Caroline, its okay!" Elena said, pushing past Stefan and grabbed both sides of Caroline.

"No it's not Elena!" She yelled, getting up from the bed. "While you have been busy having Alaric compel away your memories and Stefan off pretending a new life is going to make everything go away, I've been here trying to clean up everyone's mess and trying to find away to get our home back! I've been trying to keep it together while everyone else fell apart and I can only take so much! I was hurting too!" Tears fell from her eyes and the shooting pains from the venom started to take over her body.

"But we are here for you now Caroline." Elena said, on the verge of crying herself.

"It's a little too late. In case you didn't notice…" She said pointing to the wound that continued to spread by the minute. "I'm dying! There is nothing anyone can do!"

Stefan picked up the blood bag from the floor and slowly walked towards her. "Caroline…please just drink it will ease some of the pain until we can get the antidote. Let me help you." He said.

"You don't get it! I don't want to ease the pain! I don't want your help! I rather die right now… from werewolf venom, they spend another day with a broken heart because of you!" She hissed.

He could see the anger and hurt in her eyes.

"Caroline! You don't mean that!" Elena said shocked.

Caroline stumbled backwards against the wall and sled down it. She was pouring sweat and her vision was becoming blurry. "God it's so damn hot in here!"

Enzo walked over and helped her stand up. Caroline's continued to fight against him. "Caroline, Stop!" He said, grabbing both sides of her face making her look at him. "It's me."

After a moment her vision cleared enough for her to make out his face before going blurry again. Enzo wrapped his arms around her and began leading her out of the room.

"Where are you taking her?!" Elena demanded.

"She's burning up. I, unlike some people, will not sit by and watch her in pain." He said, pushing past both Elena and Stefan and made his way down the hall to the bathroom, both of them hot on his heels.

He opened the shower door and turned the water on cool and climbed in with Caroline still in his arms, not bothering to remove any clothing. He stood under the water letting it run over both of them, pulling Caroline's hair out of her face and out of the wound.

"Does that feel better, love?" He whispered in her ear. He felt her breathing and heart beat begin to slow and she nodded her head. "Good. It's all going to be alright, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." He promised, looking through the glass shower door at Stefan.

Stefan clenched his fist and made his way downstairs to find Damon just hanging up the phone. "Please tell me you were able to get a hold of Klaus." He said.

"Well he was reluctant to help, until he heard it was Caroline. Good news is that he is in North Carolina." Damon said. "How is she?"

"Not good. She wants nothing to do with me or Elena, Enzo seems to be the only one who can calm her down." He said, sounding slightly defeated.

"Look Stefan, I understand you did what you had to move on after everything, but take a second and stand in her shoes. It's not easy to come to terms that the person you care about, just tries to erase you from their life." He said and Stefan could hear the disappointment in his voice.

"Damon, I'm sor-"

"Don't Stefan. You don't have to apologize to me. Like I said, I understand being on both sides of that line." He said, giving a supportive smile. "Caroline will come around."

"I don't know about that." He sighed. "Besides, I don't think she has much time, it seems to be spreading faster than the last time." He could feel the tears forming.

"Klaus said he will be here within the hour. We won't let anything happen to her Brother." He said, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

Stefan nodded. He was so consumed with Caroline he forgot to ask if Damon had seen or talked to Elena.

"Have you talked to Elena?" He asked.

Damon shook his head. "That's not important right now. She made her choice." He said before disappearing into the other room.

Stefan sat in the living room for a few minutes before Elena came down the stairs. "Well she's finally calmed down and resting. Enzo is still with her." She said sitting down across from him.

Stefan simply nodded, pouring two glasses of bourbon and handed her one and went back to watching the fire he had started in the fire place.

"Stefan, Caroline didn't mean any of that, you know that. It's just the venom talking." Elena said, trying to be reassuring.

Stefan shook his head. "she will never forgive me for leaving. I never knew how bad I hurt her until the night of the party, and I continue to hurt her. She called me, I can't tell you how many times tonight before following the hunter. If I had only answered maybe she wouldn't be the one dying right now." He hung his head in shame.

"Stefan you can't do this to yourself right now. You and I know better than anyone that Caroline would have still gone to that place to save Ivy and Enzo." Elena said reaching out and touched his arm.

Stefan stood up so fast from the chair he was sitting in that he sent it flying across the room. Elena jumped.

"Yeah, well maybe if I answered my damn phone she wouldn't have had to go alone and maybe she wouldn't have been injected with werewolf venom." He said, anger building up inside him as he threw his glass of bourbon into the fire place causing the fire to roar.

"If she dies…. It's my fault. I will never be able to live with myself!" He said.

"She's not going to die Stefan! Klaus is on his way, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, but can we ever completely trust him?" He scuffed, beginning to pace the room.

Elena was about to speak when they hear the front door blow open.

"Well, I take offense to that." They heard a voice from behind them.

Stefan turned to see Klaus standing there.

*** leave a review and tell me what ya think so far ;) ***


	5. Chapter 5

****Hey yall leave a review and let me know what you think about it so far!****

Caroline woke up late the next morning, around 11am. She sat up in bed and stretched; as her arms fell she ran her fingers across the spot where only a few hours ago was a flesh wound. She shook her head as everything came flooding back. Ivy's kidnapping, rescuing Enzo and Ivy from the Hunter…only to be attacked by the hunter herself. She remembered Damon and Klaus? Had she been hallucinating? Klaus obviously had been here because she is alive and healed from the werewolf venom, but_ Damon? _ That had to be a hallucination. The night was just a huge blur.

She turned when she heard a knock on her door and saw Stefan standing there with a tray of food and a blood bag.

"Morning." He smiled, walking over and setting the tray on her lap before taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Confused." She admitted. "I swear I had the most realistic dream that Damon was here late night."

"Ah, well that wasn't a dream." He smiled. "He helped rescue you from the hunter."

Caroline looked at him even more confused. "How-how is he back?" she asked.

"I really don't know, we didn't have time to get into it last night." He said.

She sighed, looking down at her hands. She didn't remember how she got back to her house; let alone how Stefan ended up here. Last thing she remembered was getting Ivy and Enzo out of that house and getting shot with a stake and werewolf venom.

"So I'm guessing since you're here you finally checked your messages?" she realize how bitter the words sounded.

Stefan shifted uncomfortably on the bed before answering. "Actually I was at the Cemetery with Damon when Matt found us and told us you were in trouble." He stated.

_MATT. She remembered he showed to distract the hunter._

"Is Matt okay?" She suddenly shot up out of the bed and reached for her rob.

Stefan reached out for her arm and stopped her. "He's fine. A little beat up but he'll live."

"And Enzo? Ivy?" She said, pulling her arm from his grasp.

"Enzo is fine, but no one has seen or heard from Ivy." He sighed.

Caroline noticed the slight worry in his voice and was confused as to why. He did just drop Ivy off on her doorstep, after all. He obviously wasn't worried about her then, so why now?

"I guess that's another mess left for me to clean up." She said, running her hand threw her hair.

"What?" he asked confused.

"Oh come on Stefan, you dumped your newbie vampire girlfriend on me and proceeded to leave town…again. So, I'll be left here to clean up the Ivy mess…again." She spat. "Honestly I don't even know why you're still here."

"I'm here for you Caroline." He said, surprised she was questioning that.

"Oh really? WHY all of a sudden do you care?!" She yelled.

"Care, calm down." He stood and tried to comfort her.

"No Stefan, I want to know why!? You couldn't care less about me when you ran off to Georgia for months." She spat, she felt her blood begin to boil.

"Caroline, you almost died last night –"

"Oh so I'm supposed to be thankful that you're here? Me almost dying is the one thing that was enough to keep you here? What about the 4 months I've been dying inside every day because you weren't here?! Where were you then?" She asked, wanting an answer but knew she wouldn't receive one.

Stefan sighed and avoided looking her in the eyes.

"Last night would have never happened if you didn't dump Ivy on me just so you could leave town again with no worries." She said, she felt the tears form in her eyes.

"I know it's my fault Caroline!" He yelled, knocking over the end table and sending it across the room. "If I didn't turn Enzo into the hunter and dump Ivy on you the hunter would have never gotten his hands on you! I'm sorry!"

"Wait – you turned Enzo in?" Caroline asked, in disbelieve.

"You wouldn't let me kill him. He promised me an eternity of misery, what choice did I have?" He asked.

Caroline felt the tears fall and quickly wiped them away. "You're unbelievable."

"I know I messed up. I've tried for months to run away from the pain. I lost my brother and two of my closest friends for the second time. It took everything I had not to flip the switch and turn off the emotions. The only other choice I had was to leave." He said.

Caroline could hear the pain in his voice, but she had so much anger towards him in that moment it took control of her.

"For months I wished Damon would come back because that meant I would get you back too. But this Stefan…" She paused giving him the once over. "This version of you, I don't even know who is standing in from of me! You left me here, alone! Elena compelled her feelings away and started a new life as a college student, Matt, Jeremy and Tyler stay in Mystic Falls the majority of the time and Alaric is busy trying not to rip the throats out of every one of his students. I was alone, and I needed_ you, my best friend!" _ She cried.

Stefan hated to see her cry. He never knew how much pain she was in with him gone. "Caroline, I'm sorry. Please, tell me how to fix this so we can go back to being friends!"

He grabbed her arms but she pushed him away.

"You don't get it! After all this, I don't want to be friends again." She said.

Stefan took a step back, shocked at what she just said.

"I think you need to leave." She said, quietly before pushing past him to go into the bathroom.

As Stefan left her house his phone began to ring. He looked at the caller ID before answering.

"Matt." He answered.

"Stefan, I found Tripp. I'm on my way with him back to the abandoned house." He said.

"I'll be right there." Stefan said before hanging up.


	6. Chapter 6

Tripp started coming around his vision still blurry. He blinked a few times until it became clear, looking across the room at Enzo, Stefan and Matt. He quickly glanced around and noticed he was still in the abandoned house, only this time he was the prisoner. He tried to fight again the chains that bound him to a chair.

"Hello, again." Enzo smirked walking over and looking Tripp right in the eyes. "Quiet a mess you got yourself in here, fighting a bunch of vampires and managing to get away and cross the border. Good thing Matt here isn't supernatural and was able to track you down."

"You brought me here?" Tripp asked looking over at Matt.

"You went after my friends, what did you expect?" Matt said firmly, his arms crossed.

"Your friends, who kills people!" Tripp emphasized.

Matt shifted uncomfortably.

"C'mon Enzo, ask him what you want to know and get this over with." Stefan stated rolling his eyes.

"Stefan has already made a very passionate argument in favor of snapping your neck." Enzo stated, grasping both hands around Tripp's neck squeezing slightly. "As a surprising role reversal, I opted for the 'let's think this through and get all the information before we kill him' method." He let go of him.

"Don't be a dick Enzo." Matt spoke up. "You can drain him of the revain and compel him to forget and not return to mystic falls."

"You don't really think he's a one man vampire busting operation do you?" Enzo asked. "While he tortured me for the names of your friends, I had a front row seat to a few urgent phone calls and two mysterious right hand men coming and going. Both of which sported uniforms similar to the one you've been trampsing around in. So I'd like to know what they are doing out there while he's here."

Stefan looked over at Matt giving him a look of surprising agreement. Tripp stared at Enzo; it was obvious that he wasn't going to talk without persuasion. Stefan grabbed a hammer and smacked down on Tripp's knuckles.

Tripp let out a scream. "They are doing the same thing they've been doing, hunting down vampires." He tried to breath threw the pain.

"Who's the next target?" Matt asked.

Tripp looked up. "Caroline Forbes."

Stefan and Enzo both looked at each other, obviously Tripp was unaware that Caroline was the one who broke in last night to rescue Enzo and Ivy.

"Get the names of his men and what they know." Stefan said handing Enzo the hammer before leaving the house.

Elena knocked on Caroline's door. She waited a few minutes before inviting herself in. "Care?" She called out closing the door behind her.

Caroline heard Elena's voice and sighed. "In the kitchen."

Elena slowly walked down the hallway to the kitchen and saw Caroline sitting at the island pouring a blood bag into a cup before tossing it to the side next to a pile of other empty bags.

"Caroline, what is this?" Elena asked shocked. She has never seen her best friend consume so much human blood before.

Caroline took a sip from her cup before turned to look at Elena. "I'm building my strength back up." She stated.

"I've never seen you drink this much at one time." Elena said, mentally counting the empty blood bags on the counter. _14. _

"Yeah well you've never recovered from werewolf venom. One blood bag and a few bunnies aren't going to cut it." She scuffed. "What are you doing here anyway?"

Elena took a seat on the bar stool next to Caroline. "I came to check on you and talk about last night."

"Well I'm fine and I don't want to talk about it." She sighed, turned to get up.

"Caroline –" Elena started but Caroline cut her off.

"Honestly Elena I'm fine. I was attacked and injected with werewolf venom, not my first or second time; but I'm alive…. or as alive as a vampire can be." She said.

Elena knew something was bothering Caroline, she's never this hostile, but she figured it was best to not push her right now. She simply gave her a small smile.

"Shouldn't you be somewhere talking to Damon?" Caroline asked, changing the subject.

Elena shrugged. "I honestly don't even know what to say to him right now. I'm shocked he's alive again. I don't even know if I want to see him."

"Right, because you compelled to forget anything that had to do with him." Caroline said coldly.

"Care –" Elena sighed.

"No I get it Elena. You were a mess with him gone and couldn't see yourself living a life without him. You did what you had to too survive and have a normal life. Honestly now I wish I had done the same." Caroline stated.

"Because of Stefan?" Elena asked carefully.

Caroline sighed and walked over to the kitchen window.

"Caroline, do you have feelings for him?" Elena asked.

Caroline felt awkward talking about this with Elena; after all she was Stefan's ex girlfriend. She was quiet for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"Did?" Elena asked confused.

"For months I wished everything would go back to normal, that we could bring Bonnie and Damon back and Stefan would come back too and everything would go back to normal. I tried to be strong for everyone but I felt this emptiness in my heart." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I called him everyday day just to hear his voice but all I ever got was his voicemail. When Enzo and I tracked him down in Georgia and found that he had created this new life with a new girlfriend… it hurt." She said and returned staring out the window.

"He did what he had to do to cope, Care. But he came back." Elena said, trying to be hopeful.

She sighed. "He only showed up to kill Enzo and then dump Ivy on me and leave town again. He stayed because Damon came back, and I'm happy about that…but it had nothing to do with me."

Elena didn't know what to say. The silence was broke with her phone ringing. She pulled it out and noticed the name. _Damon. _She hit ignore.

Caroline looked over her shoulder at her. "You shouldn't keep ignoring him. He fought death to come back to you, even if you don't remember you loved him once, that's what kept him going."

Elena nodded once. Caroline was right, she couldn't hid from Damon forever; eventually she was going to have to talk to him.

"You're right; I think it's time I talk to him. Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

Caroline gave her a small smile and nodded.

"Okay, I'll call you later." She said giving Caroline a hug before leaving.


	7. Chapter 7

Damon sat in the hallway of Elena's dorm. He had been sitting here most of the afternoon waiting for her to return. He let out a sigh and glanced at his phone.

_5:30pm _He had been sitting here for 4 hours now.

Just when he was about to give up and leave his phone rang.

"Elena" He quickly answered.

Elena paused before speaking. "Damon."

"Yeah,um hey." He said coolly.

"I was wondering if you can meet me at my dorm…. so we can talk?" She asked.

He looked around, if only she knew he was already here. "Yeah, sure I'll be right there."

"Okay, I'll um see you in a few." She hung up.

Damon smiled and decided he would wait down the hall for her to return before acting as if he just showed up.

Elena walked into her dorm room and was becoming more nervous.She took a deep breath and started to pace the room. _Why was she so nervous?_ She remembered the horrible, manipulative and heartless Damon who killed innocent people. She walked over to the box of Damon's things that she had Alaric hold on to and pulled out a picture of her and Damon together. She looked… happy. She couldn't imagine how she could have been happy with him. She sighed; she couldn't ignore what she couldn't remember any longer.

She was brought out of her thought with a knock on the door. She took another deep breath before slowly turning the knob and opening the door, reveling Damon on the other side.

Damon gave her a small smile. "Hey."

Elena stared at him for what felt like forever.

"Okay, I'll start. I know Ric compelled you to forget everything we had together but please tell me it's coming back? Or at least part of it because imagining this exact moment is what kept me going for 4 months." He said. He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms but didn't want to force her.

"I'm not sure what to say." She sighed.

He finally reached out and grabbed her hands. "Tell me you missed me as much as I missed you." He gave a small smile.

She looked down at their hands. "I remember pain, and all the terrible things you did to the people I love. I know that we had a life together and I apparently forgave you for all the horrible things you've done, but I just don't… feel it." She said pulling her hands out of his.

Damon's face fell; he couldn't believe she wasn't starting to remember anything, not even the smallest thing to bring back any memory they had together.

"Damon, I'm sorry." She said.

He simply nodded. "Yeah me too." He gave her a weak smile before turning and walking down the hall.

Caroline fixed her hair in the mirror before taking a last look at her outfit. She decided to get out of the house for a little while; she was tired of staring out the window or at the walls replaying all the Stefan drama in her mind. She looked down at her dresser and noticed the picture of Stefan, Elena and herself, back when Stefan and Elena were still together. She sighed and slammed the picture face down on the dresser.

She heard a soft knock on her bedroom door and glanced up in the mirror to see him leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Great." She said under her breath as she rolled her eyes.

"What's great?" Stefan asked.

"Nothing." She said sharply turning towards him. "If I remember correctly I said we weren't friends anymore so that means you can't just walk into my house unannounced whenever you want."

"Look Caroline, you're in danger. Tripp's men still have your name." He said uncrossing his arms and walked pass her.

"And what; you're here to protect me?" She asked sarcastically. "Well I don't need your protection and more importantly I don't want it."

Stefan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know you're upset with me but this is serious Caroline. We have no idea what these men look like or what they know but I'm sure they know where to find you."

"That's fine, I can handle myself." She stated.

"Seriously? You almost got yourself killed last night!" He said, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Caroline scoffed. "_You're_ the reason the hunters are on our trail to begin with. I almost died because you left me no choice but to clean up _your _mess!"

"Caroline, what do you want me to do?!" He tried to keep his voice calm. "I leave you alone and I get the cold shoulder and if I try to help you and protect you I get stone walled. Tell me what I need to do!"

"I can't keep doing this with you Stefan. You were gone for months and you can't just swoop in now and expect me to forgive and forget. And you sure has hell don't get to come in here and act like you give a damn and try to protect me because you've shown that you couldn't have cared less before. I guess I just have to except that things won't go back to the way they were." She said walking over to her door. "Now, please just leave me alone."

Stefan shook his head and reluctantly started walking out the room. "Just be careful." He said before leaving.

Caroline shut the door and pressed her for head against it and waited to hear him walk out her front door. "Damn it!" She yelled and kicked the door.

Damon sat at the bar and shot down another shot before slamming it down on the bar waiting impatiently for the bartender to fill it up again. He played around with Elena's necklace in his hands. He remembered giving it to her the night of her birthday party. When he found it in the 1994 prison he had been locked in for months he knew that if he ever made it out of there, he would give it to her again.

He felt a presence come from behind him and plop down on the stool next to him.

"I'll have what he's having." She said to the bartender.

He smirked when he saw Caroline out of the corner of his eye. "Careful, this isn't the girly stuff." He said.

Caroline grabbed her shot and downed it in a second. "I'm not feeling the girly stuff tonight." She said licking her lips. "Welcome back."

Damon raised an eye brow, impressed, but immediately he noticed a change in her. This wasn't the happy, bubbly, slightly annoying Caroline he grown to like over the years. He watched as she took two more shots.

"Easy, Blondie. I don't want to have to carry you home, _again_." He said with a smirk.

"Thanks for that by the way." Caroline said. "I'm really glad you are back." She gave him a smile.

"Well at least someone is." He said taking another shot.

Caroline could see he was talking about Elena. She looked down and noticed Elena's necklace in his hands, his thumb tracing over it. "You know, I didn't want her to do it."

Damon laughed. "I figured you would have been the one cheering her on."

"Don't be a dick." She said sternly. "You haven't always been my favorite person but even I couldn't deny the fact that she made you a better person and she loved you, maybe a little too much."

"Yeah, well too bad she doesn't remember." He said taking a shot.

The bartender filled up there glasses again. She nodded and smiled before taking one.

"She'll come around Damon." She gave him a supportive smile. "She fell in love with your crazy ass despite your past once, she can do it again."

"I hope so." He said before his phone rang. "I'll be right back." He said before getting up and making his way outside to answer.

Caroline turned her attention to the bartender and asked for a shot of tequila and lime. He nodded and started chopping lime wedges and then suddenly gasped. She noticed he cut his finger with the knife and quickly grabbed a towel to try to stop the bleeding. Caroline closed her eyes as she breathed in the metallic scent, her veins began to pulsate under her eyes and she felt her fangs come through.

"No…" she breathed out, opening her eyes revealing their red color.

The bartender looked shock. "What-What are you?" He asked.

Caroline bared her fangs and hissed before jumping over the bar and sinking her fangs into his neck. Her eyes turned red as she tasted his blood,_ it tasted so good._ She felt him become weaker and fighting less and herself becoming stronger.

***** What do you think!? :D Leave me a comment and let me know! ******


	8. Chapter 8

_**Hey guys, sorry its been a while, I hope yall had a merry Christmas! Here is the next chapter, please please please let me know what you think – I'm still having a hard time with how I want this story to go and am open to what yall would like to see! So leave me a comment or message me and let me know! **____** enjoy….**_

"Looks like they haven't been able to get anywhere with Tripp..." Damon said annoyed as he came back into the bar. "Caroline?" He asked when he didn't see her sitting at the bar where he left her.

He scanned the room and noticed her hunched over behind the bar. It was only then that the scent it him.

_**Blood.**_

"Caroline!" He yelled before he vamp sped over and pulled her off of the bartender.

The bartender grabbed his neck and held himself up against the bar. Damon grabbed him and looked him straight in the eyes. "You will leave right now and forget this happened." He compelled. The guy nodded before running out the back.

Caroline started to chase after him but Damon grabbed her waist. "Stop it Caroline!" He demanded, and she turned to hiss at him. His hold remains firm on her arm. "What are you doing?"

Caroline squinted her eyes close and took a deep breath and waited for the veins to disappear. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at Damon. She reached up and wiped the corner of her mouth revealing smeared blood on her finger tips.

"Oh my god..." She said shock as she realized what she had done.

He said and pulled her into his chest. "C'mon we need to get you out of here." He said grabbing her purse and leading her out the bar.

He led Caroline into her house and helped her sit down on the couch. He walked into the kitchen stopped in his tracks when he saw the pile of blood bags on the counter. _Something wasn't right. This is not Caroline… _He grabbed a towel and wet it at the sink before returned to Caroline in the living room.

He knelt down in front of her and lifted her chin up. "Here, let's get some of this blood off." He said softly, gently wiping the corners of her mouth with the towel.

She sat quietly almost in a daze, allowing him to wipe the blood off. She could see the concerned look on his face. "What's going on?" He asked, wiping the last spot.

Caroline tried to hold the tears back but they appeared and she covered her face with her hands. Damon sighed and pulled her into his arms.

"That's a good sign; at least I know you haven't flipped your humanity switch." He said trying to ease the tension in the room.

Caroline laughed lightly as she pulled away and wiped her eyes. "No I didn't."

Damon sat down next to her and waited for her to be ready to open up to him. She ran a hand threw her hair and sighed.

"I bet you think I'm being a drama queen." She said looking down at her hands.

"Do you want me to be honest?" He asked, reaching over and wiped a smeared spot of mascara off her cheek.

She nodded.

"No, I don't think that at all." She looked at him a little shocked. "Yeah, ripping someone's jugular out is extreme for you, but I think you have every right to be feeling the way you have been." He said, reaching over taking her hand.

"I don't completely understand what I'm feeling right now. And I really don't know why I attacked that guy tonight." She said, ashamed.

"And the blood bags?" He asked.

Caroline looked down at her hands. "I thought the over whelming cravings were because of the werewolf venom and needing to regain my strength…but it's like I can't satisfy the thirst. I thought I was okay earlier, until the bartender cut his finger…" She said ashamed.

"Caroline you're a vampire. Every ounce of your being is telling you to turn every human into a juice box; but you have shown a huge amount of restraint and strength to fight that urge. I've seen vampires hundreds of years old who can't fight the urge like you do. So what you had a moment of weakness, you're still a saint compared to me." He said, giving her a wink.

She knew he was trying to make light of the situation but she still noticed the sadness in his voice. "Damon, you're not as bad as you think."

Damon tried to give a small smile but he couldn't. "Does any of this have anything to do with my brother?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?" she tried to blow it off but Damon saw straight threw her.

"Care- you don't have to pretend with me. I saw how upset you were last night when he tried to help comfort you. What happened?" He asked.

Caroline sighed and stood up. "You and Bonnie died. Everything changed. Understandably Stefan was grieving and I tried to be there for him but he pushed me away and left town for months. I was left here to deal with Elena, Jeremy and Matt and the Traveler's spell on our town… alone. I tried to be strong but I needed my best friend. I called him every day and left hundreds of messages, only to find out that he never listened to one of them. He moved on stared a new life and pretended the old one didn't exist…. I didn't exist." She paused for a moment. "I realized that I cared more for him then he did for me."

"I'm sure it wasn't like that Care." He tried to be supportive.

"Yeah it was Damon. The only reason he came back to town was to kill Enzo for killing and turning his girlfriend from Georgia. He didn't come back to check on Elena or Alaric….or me. And if you hadn't come back he'd probably be in California right now." She said, throwing herself on the couch again.

"I'm sorry." he said, he didn't know how to begin to try to justify his brothers actions while he was gone. He was relieved that his death didn't cause Stefan to turn into a ripper again, but he didn't understand how he could just leave everyone who cared about him.

"I just can't do it anymore. He hurt me so bad and I just can't forgive and forget." She said, fighting back the tears. "God I don't want to cry anymore! I just wish I could forget!"

Damon wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest and stroked her hair. "Does he know?" he asked.

"Know what?" she asked against his chest.

"Does Stefan know you have feelings for him?"

Caroline shook her head. "I didn't really know I was having feelings myself. But it doesn't matter now, I just need to pick myself up and move on."

He gave her a small smile.

"I'm sure you have a million other things you would rather do then sit here and babysit me." She laughed, pulling away from him.

"I really don't mind Caroline."

"Thank you, but I really just want to take a long bath and go to sleep and try to forget the last 48 hours." She said.

Damon nodded. "You sure you'll be okay?"

"I'll be fine." She said.

Damon left Caroline's house and decided to walk home to clear his head. He thought about Elena. He had hoped that when she had seen him face to face that it would have sparked a memory or a feeling to help her remember again. But instead she said she felt nothing. He wanted so badly to whisk her away to Alaric and force him to restore her memories, but he knew Alaric wouldn't do it without Elena's approval, and he couldn't force her to do that. She needed to choose it on her own. No matter how long it took, he would do anything and everything he had to help her remember.

As he walked pass the bar he noticed Stefan sitting at a table drinking alone. He walked in and sat down across from him.

"You wouldn't believe the night I'm having." Damon said, reaching over and took the glass out of Stefan's hand and took the last swig before motioning to the waitress for another bottle.

"Want to talk about it?" Stefan sighed, sitting back in his seat.

"Nope." Damon shook his head. "But by the look on your face you're having about as good of a day as me, so tonight I listen to you." He said.

"Well we have a group of vampire hunters loose who we have no idea who they are, Tripp won't talk despite Enzo unique interrogation techniques, who by the way has also promised to continue your legacy of providing me an eternity of misery. There is a newbie vampire running around town who hasn't mastered the simple skill of snatch, eat, erase. And in the mist of all that I've managed to piss Caroline off to the point that she hates me." He sighed, downing another glass of bourbon.

"Yes, let's talk about that one for a moment!" Damon said, reaching over and filling his glass with the bottle the waitress sat down on the table.

"Which?" He asked confused.

"The part where Caroline hates you." He smirked.

"What about it, it's pretty self explanatory." Stefan said, even more confused.

"Wow you really don't see it, do you?" Damon asked shaking his head. Stefan just stared at him. "Let's say there are more feelings then just friendship."

Stefan half laughed. "Even if that was true, how would you possible know that?"

"Because she told me." Damon said straight forward.

"Right, Caroline just came out in the open about feelings…to you?" He laughed. "What are you guys best friends now?"

"Well I hear the spots open." He said with sarcasm, Stefan quickly shot him a glare. "Oh c'mon Stefan I know you're not that dense."

Stefan sighed and shook his head. "I just don't believe it. We were just friends; I would have seen it if there was something more."

"Well I don't really blame you for not seeing it. I've noticed some things out the ordinary with Caroline lately…" Damon said.

"Like what?" Stefan asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Like the fact that I had to physically rip her off the bartender tonight before she killed him, and the fact that her kitchen has more empty blood bags than a blood bank." He stated.

"What?" Stefan was in disbelief.

Damon was about to speak when Stefan's phone began to ring.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Stefan we have a problem." Matt said, panicked.

"What is it?"

"Two men just ran Sherriff Forbes off the road and kidnapped her. They said they are going to kill her unless Caroline brings Tripp back to them." Matt said.

Damon could hear the conversation and quickly began to get up and leave the bar.

"We are on our way." Stefan said before hanging up. "Where are you going?" he asked Damon.

"Caroline isn't stable right now. If we don't save Liz, it will push Caroline over the edge." Damon said. "Do you know were Tripp is?"

"Enzo has him in the abandoned house." Stefan said.

"I'll go there, you go get Caroline." Damon said before speeding out of the bar.


End file.
